Magnetized Milk

MICHELLE DALSON

Lizzet Clifton, Utopia

Walter sat at the table and smiled at the yellow-brown scrambled eggs on his plate. They were eggs of golden-feathered geese with bronze beaks, known as Jingeese.

His wife, Ava, set down a plate of the Jingeese eggs in front of their children: ten-year-old Tommy, six-year-old Amy, and nine-month-old Ellie. “Be sure to finish up,” she said. “Your father paid a heaping sum of money to purchase these eggs from the Jingeese Clan.”

Tommy watched as Ava poured a carton of silver liquid into his glass. He rolled his eyes. “Come on! Does everything we consume have to be silver? The people of the Jingeese Clan get to eat golden eggs and drink golden milk.”

Amy stared at the silver liquid and wrinkled her nose. “I miss the milk we buy from Flamecows.”

Walter sighed. “Well, our clan ain’t very happy with Flamecows at the moment. Our clan lost against their clan in our Genopet League battle last weekend, so now we barely got any money to buy any of their products.” Walter and his family were part of the clan that raised another breed of genopet cows, known as Magnecows. They were white with silver, magnetic splotches plastered across their bodies. Their four stomachs were also made of magnets.

Walter’s face reddened. “Hey, I spend my entire day tendin’ to our Magnecows. Hours and hours I’m tilling the soil, growin’ the plants and mixin’ them with the chemicals your mother prepares so that their organs stay magnetized.”

The Magnecows were fed with electrical plants, which would magnetize their organs. All the unwanted ingredients in their milk would stick to the magnetic organs instead of mixing with the stem cells. Thus, the stem cells would remain alive in the milk. When one consumed the milk, the stem cells that remained would differentiate into bone cells, regenerating lost bone or strengthening bones that were already present.

Ava crossed her arms. “Tommy, your father works hard to ensure our cows can produce the milk you need. No other genopet cow can produce true, bone-strengthening milk.”

Tommy snorted. “But Magnecow Milk tastes like metal!”

Footsteps sounded from the window behind the little boy. He turned to see a Magnecow walking pass their window. She opened her mouth to let out a vibrating moo in Tommy’s direction. “Excuse me? Are you making fun of my milk, young man?”

Tommy frowned. Like all other Magnecows, she was white with black splotches, each of them shiny and metallic. “Your milk tastes like metal. It’s disgusting! You should have fought harder against the Flamecows in the Genopet League battle, so we could be buying their milk instead!”

She swished her tail. “Well! If you’re not going to be grateful with what I have to offer you, I will no longer bother eating any of the junk Walter feeds me!”

Walter gasped. “Oh no, Mabel! Please, you must eat the electroplants in order to keep your organs magnetized!”

Lizzet Clifton, Metamorphosis

“Hmph!” Mabel turned her back. “If no one is going to appreciate my milk, there’s no need for me to eat food that will shock me and electrocute me the whole time I’m grindin’.” She turned her back and walked away.

Walter stared after her. “Oh, dear. This will be a rough day.”

Tommy jumped up. “Woohoo! Now we won’t have to drink her milk anymore!”

Later that day, Tommy got into a fight with the bullies at his school. They pushed him off a steep hill, and he had rolled into a ditch, where he broke his neck and right leg.

Ava and Walter were at the hospital, standing beside their wailing son. “Can you give me some Magnecow milk?” Asked Tommy. “You said it has stem cells that can turn into new bone!”

Walter shook his head. “Sorry, sonny. But after what you said this morning, Mabel and all our other Magnecows have refused to eat any electroplants. Their milk ain’t magnetized anymore.” He gazed over all the other patients in the hospital. Each patient either had deformed limbs or bones jutting out of place. Walter sighed. “Now bone-healing will be slower than ever.”